3 Weeks

I've been here for 3 weeks now, and I'm finally feeling almost completely settled in. Life is interesting, to say the least. Something unexpected happens pretty much every day. We've had snow since Monday, and it won't be going away anytime soon. I still don't have internet in my apartment, so I'm spending ridiculous amounts of money at this one cafe, McD's just really isn't working for me anymore. At least the cafe is nice, and I can spend a while there.

I'm happy with my apartment, and it's nice to actually like the place I come home to every night! It's a giant step up from the first apartment I was in when I was here. It's rather sparsely furnished - I'm currently using my suitcases as drawers!  Eventually I'll drag my butt to IKEA to get some kind of wardrobe type thing... but it's a huge pain the butt for me to get to from where I'm living. Plus, the suitcases are free, and a wardrobe costs money :)

As of this week, I have a full teaching schedule. It doesn't allow me much free time, and I'm quite pleased with that. I could wish for a bit less travel time, but such is life. I've mastered standing on the metro without holding onto anything, so I just bring a magazine and read, like most people do. As long as I'm reading, the time passes fairly quickly. I can't say I'm completely adjusted to getting home anywhere from 10:00-10:30pm, but it starts to feel more normal every day.

Overall, I'm really enjoying life here. I spend my weekends wandering around the city, discovering new places everywhere I go. I've even managed to find a couple of the churches that I've been wanting to see since I was here in 2007! It's feeling very winter-y here - there are New Years trees popping up everywhere, and buildings are being decorated with lots of lights. There's also a nice layer of snow on the ground, and it snows a little bit every day now.

A handful of photos from my facebook: Moscow Nov-Dec 2009